Kickoff is about the first game of the season for a man who puts together a 5-man gay team for a Sunday league. He wants his players to act manly like footballers, but instead this flamboyant, very buff crew is far out in left field.
Kickoff starts with a referee’s nightmare where he is hit in the back of the head with a ball and then is lying on the ground being kicked by players. He wakes up to resume reading Collina’s biography. With such a promising start, I wrongly thought Kickoff would be a clever movie. But instead, this British movie is an amalgam of a dozen characters whose stories literally run into each other on a 5v5 soccer pitch.
British writer, director, songwriter, and actor Rikki Beadle-Blair says his process is to create the characters and then weave the story. A prominent gay activist, his productions and characters are about fighting homophobia, coming out, and being comfortable with one’s self. Unfortunately, good intentions do not make a good movie.
For a film that takes place entirely on a soccer pitch, the soccer is almost non-existent. There are only about 2 minutes of play, as the players fight, preen, carry on, or try to entice the opposition. Some of the actors list soccer on their resumes, but it looks like none of them know how to play. Maybe the movie was staged to look that way.
3 Soccer Movie Mom Rating = 3
Resources:
- Release Date: 2010
- The DVD reportedly has entertaining extras
- IMDB
- Director: Rikki Beadle Blair
- Watch the Trailer
